Helpful Articles from Professional Virginia Gardens DJs

A Simple Guide To Up LightingAll Events General Party Tips

"Up Lighting," simply defined, is a light fixture on the floor, next to a wall or draping which points up against the wall/drape. The light fixture usually has a color gel over it to project a colored beam against the wall that gets wider as it reaches the ceiling. Up Lighting can be as simple as one light fixture or as elaborate as 1000 light fixtures and a controller that makes them slowly change colors to the music or time.

The original (or standard) up lights are stage lighting flood cans with color gels, mounted on a small flat base holding them up, aiming at the ceiling, against a wall. But the game changed when the new LED stage flood lights were introduced in 2008.

With LED stage lighting flood cans, you have the ability to create a multitude of colors on each fixture. With a controller added to the system, you can have millions of colors as well as having them all change colors together or in sequence and brighten or dim as you desire. These controllers have the ability to program hundreds of different scenes to be played back whenever you want.

To get started with Up Lighting, you need to decide if you want the cheaper traditional stage lighting flood can with a colored gel sheet over it or the more elaborate LED stage lighting flood can that allows numerous colors to be created at the touch of a button. Each of these types of lights has a standard power cord that plugs into a wall socket. The traditional stage flood light uses much more electricity than the newer LED flood lights and that can be extremely important when using them and other electrical equipment in ballrooms with limited electricity. Most standard halogen stage flood lights have a 90 to 120 watt bulb while the comparable LED flood light uses less than 13 watts.

The next step is to determine how many Up Lighting fixtures you need. You can have one, two, four, twelve, 24, or more. Only you can decide what is right for your event. If you use more than one fixture, you then need to decide if you want to set the color on each fixture or get a controller and program the lights to change colors, brighten, dim, flash, or strobe.

A wedding with all its bells and whistles capture and astound guests from all walks of life when planned correctly. It is a myriad of plans and ideas gathered and condensed into one big special moment in time. That moment, is often the life long dream of one special lady fortunate enough to have found her knight in shinning armor or the unsuspecting new fiancee captivated by the excitement, attention and splendor of her rapidly approaching wedding day.

We often regard these moments as the beginning of our new lives and everything must go off without a hitch. We plan, organize and yes dare I say, we plan again. All this planning sets off what I like to call "The Creation Behind The Scenes". It is absolutely astounding the amount of foresight, insight and attention to detail set forth by each and every one vendor. The process works like a finely tune machine when all the right parts are set in place.

The bride picks the venue and after much deliberation sets off to hire vendors individually one by one. She picks the Limo, The DJ, The MC, The Photographer, The Videographer, The Cake, The florist, The Cocktail Hour Entertainment, The Ceremonial Priest, the Decorations, The Wedding Invitations, The Belly Dancer, The Mariachi Band, The Lighting Company, and all the extras that makes a brides dream day become a reality. You then have dozens of people all working separately together towards one goal, making this wedding absolutely fabulous. The vendors in most cases, don't even know each other, yet they all work in sync knowing what each needs to do to accomplish the task at hand.

I love what professionals in their fields create at a moments notice to entertain, feed and document these special events. Although often not very glamorous positions, these vendors put their hearts and their all into these projects, gigs, events and venues making them stand out in the silent admiration of guests who will never get the chance to express their awe to them.

After you have planned your wedding and you see the meticulous care of the artist stacking your cake or the sweating florist forced to meet the time constraints of certain venues, the DJ who hauls heavy loads of equipment with a smile on his face or the Photographer and Videographer that spend long hours from morning til evening recording and taking your photos; remember to give thanks to all those behind the scene who set the stage to place the pedestal where you were meant to glow in the eyes of your fiends and family.